#Sitting is “IN” (Part 1) – Do You Sit?

Everyday Activity Scientist

Think for a moment about your typical day. You awake in the morning and sit at the kitchen table for breakfast. Perhaps after that you walk a few meters to your car and drive to work – where you sit. Lunchtime is great because you can take a break from the stress of work and you can get away from your desk to sit in the cafeteria.

In the afternoon after you have picked up the kids from sitting at their school desks, you stop at the grocery store quickly before bringing your kids to their extracurricular activities. You park close to the door of the grocery store so that you can save some precious minutes. You bring you kids to their activities and, fortunately for you, the cafe close by offers you a great place for you to sit and wait. Perhaps you stayed to watch your kids’ training session instead and there you noticed that they spent at least half the time standing in line or sitting on the bench.

Finally, you arrive home and are so tired from the day’s events that you collapse for the rest of the evening on the sofa. You put a video on for the kids to watch (while sitting) because it satisfies everyone’s wishes for the evening, rest and recuperation. Does this sound familiar?

While this description of a typical day did not necessarily describe your typical day, it describes a typical day for a number of adults. These are adults that perform their daily tasks as society expects them to, with style, and without complaint. These societal expectations slyly fill our days with hurry and worry, but fortunately many tasks have at least become physically less demanding. We complete our days rushing through the hours, day after day and year after year. Fortunately, our chairs are always there to support us.

Arto Pesola

Everyday Activity Scientist

Partner

Fibion Inc.

PhD in Exercise Physiology, Author of the 'Revolution of Natural Exercise' book

Some years ago, I was asked about my future plans. Without much of thinking I replied: “I want to make the world a better place where people don’t need to sit so much”. This spontaneous answer was the leading light to finish my PhD degree and forward to new business opportunities in health technology aiming at making life healthier - with less sitting. For my blog posts, I have used material from my book "Luomuliikunnan vallankumous" (engl. The revolution of everyday activity) (Fitra 2014).